Torrance’s Steve Jun took down the 2018 Card Player Poker Tour Bicycle Hotel & Casino $500,000 guaranteed $1,100 no-limit hold’em main event in Bell Gardens on Oct. 21.
The 34-year-old California poker pro earned $149,733 for the win.
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino held the event as a part of its 2018 Big Poker Oktober series. It drew 524 total entries, creating a guarantee-smashing $642,140 prize pool that paid the top 72 finishers.
Several recognizable pros cashed in the event, including Adam Geyer, Amnon Filippi, Jordan Cristos, Mohsin Charania, Joseph Serock, and James Collopy, who finished fifth for $29,640.
UFC octagon announcer Bruce Buffer also cashed, earning $2,500 for a 48th-place finish.
Live At The Bike!
The final day started with 16 players remaining, and the final table was live streamed from the Live At The Bike! studio.
Jun beat Duey Duong heads up to book the win, leaving Duong short of victory again in his third final table in this event over the past four years. Duong earned $97,000 in runner-up cash.
Jun praised the event to Card Player Magazine:
“I think that this event was great. It was very well run. I was hoping to win, but I didn’t really expect that I would. I almost didn’t play this tournament because I was tired at the time. My realistic goal coming into the final day was to just try to make the top nine, but I just ran really well. Probably a once-in-a-lifetime run.”
Jun also thanked his wife and son for the support, saying his parents haven’t always supported his decision to make poker a career, but the money he earned in this event may change that.
Big Poker Oktober
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino’s Big Poker Oktober poker festival ran Oct. 1 through Oct. 21 with a series of 17 events.
The 2018 Card Player Poker Tour $500,000 guaranteed $1,100 no-limit hold’em main event featured three starting flights and gave players the ability to buy directly into Day 2 at a cost of $4,300.
In 2017, the Big Poker Oktober series’ main event drew 550 entries, creating a $673,180 prize pool. San Diego’s Andrew Wisdom, 23, took it down, collecting a $165,000 first-place prize.
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino underwent a $50 million upgrade in 2015, adding a hotel to the property. It is one of the most popular poker destinations in the Los Angeles area. Affectionally referred to as The Bike, the property features a 100,000-square-foot poker room with an incredible 185 tables. The Bike offers low- to high-stakes Texas Hold’Em, Mexican Poker, Omaha, and Seven Card Stud action.
In addition to playing host and tour sponsor, Card Player Magazine is the premier poker publication in the US.
